In The Seen, Simply The Seen
One of the most direct and profound teachings in the Buddhist tradition on the basic experience of awakening is the teaching that the Buddha gave to a monk named Bahiya. The main portion of the teaching can be translated as:
Bahiya, this is what you will realize:
In the seen, there will be simply the seen;
In the heard, there will be simply the heard;
In the conceived, there will be simply the conceived;
In the recognized, there will be simply the recognized;
In all that, you will not be seen, heard, conceived or recognized.
If you are not seen, heard, conceived or recognized, then you are not there.
When you are not there, there is no “you”, there or anywhere else.
This is in fact the end of suffering.
What this gives us is not just a blueprint for the process of awakening, but also a straightforward description of what life is like once awake. We will still see, hear, conceive and recognize this and that: daily life would be impossible without doing so. And yet, there will be the complete disappearance of the sense of “me” and "I".
Bahiya, this is what you will realize:
In the seen, there will be simply the seen;
In the heard, there will be simply the heard;
In the conceived, there will be simply the conceived;
In the recognized, there will be simply the recognized;
In all that, you will not be seen, heard, conceived or recognized.
If you are not seen, heard, conceived or recognized, then you are not there.
When you are not there, there is no “you”, there or anywhere else.
This is in fact the end of suffering.
What this gives us is not just a blueprint for the process of awakening, but also a straightforward description of what life is like once awake. We will still see, hear, conceive and recognize this and that: daily life would be impossible without doing so. And yet, there will be the complete disappearance of the sense of “me” and "I".
Where we look for “me” is… everywhere. In the passage above, what is seen and heard is shorthand for everything that happens in sensory experience, which also includes what we smell, taste, touch and think. We have certain conceptions about what we see or otherwise experience, as well as conceptions about what we don’t see but only imagine. We also recognize, discern or pick out this or that (such as a frying pan, or a red light at an intersection), by which we navigate daily life. And if we look closely, that is really all that is happening.
The focus of this passage, therefore, is not on what exactly is seen or otherwise experienced - no accurate description is possible or necessary. It also does not affirm that there is an actual process called "seeing" happening; for example, the second line above is sometimes translated as "in the seen, there will be simply the seeing", though if we look closely we realize that there is nothing that is doing that seeing. Instead, the punchline is that, regardless of how we might categorize what is currently happening, we will never find an actual self, ego or “me” in any of it. This includes not only what seems to be a separate self which goes by our name and is apparently in control of our life, which is the first fetter, but also the underlying sense of “me” that seems to be the basis of life itself as the eighth fetter.
Fortunately, we already have the ability to see and know this. Some translations of the passage above cast it in terms of what Bahiya is to train himself in. However, we can already see, hear, conceive and recognize what is happening: all we need to do is look closely enough to see that there is no “me” in any of it. We only need to be willing to see that there is no “me”, and to simply look in the entirety of everyday experience to see it. Instead of learning a new skill, we just have to let go of beliefs and assumptions about who or what we are: that is how we are able to see there is no “me”, by which we will understand that what we see in everyday life isn't what it appears to be either.
For example, suppose we want to purchase a used bicycle from an advertisement we see. Initially, “the seen” is whatever we see in the advertisement, such as the picture of the bicycle and the words that describe it. Though it is simply visual information, we interpret and recognize the words and what is in the picture: this is effortless for us. We then go to the person’s home to see if it really is what we want, and much more happens: we see the bicycle itself, we hear their words, we take a test drive and feel how the bicycle operates, and so on. Though again all we actually receive is sensory information that is seen, heard, and felt, we effortlessly recognize what it all means on an everyday level, and decide whether or not the bicycle is the one we want. Whether we are awake or not, that is what we simply do in the course of daily life. The only difference is that, when we awaken, we know that what is seen, heard or otherwise experienced is just an interpretation that we recognize: in that, there is nothing absolutely “real” that is recognized, nor is there any sort of “me” that does that recognizing.
Focusing on the fact that there is no “me” also helps us to avoid any attempts to understand what exactly it is that we see, hear, conceive or recognize. This is especially important if we approach awakening with the erroneous assumption that we will find and know “the nature of reality”, or that we will come to fully understand “the way things really are”. In the end, all we can really say is that (for example) whatever is seen is in fact seen, and that while we can think about and interpret it in order to go about daily life, those are just ideas about what is seen. Fortunately, “simply the seen” is all we need (and all that we have ever actually had!) to navigate daily life. Rather than discovering “the way things really are”, we simply realize “the way I really am not”.
What Is Not Seen
A somewhat less well known teaching, which is a helpful companion to the above, is the Kalaka Sutta, which further clarifies what is not seen. Here the Buddha begins by recalling how it is that most people see, hear, conceive and recognize all that happens in their lives, just as he once did as well. However, not only is there no one who does all that, there also isn’t a “something” that is or isn’t seen or heard, nor will that ever actually happen:
The focus of this passage, therefore, is not on what exactly is seen or otherwise experienced - no accurate description is possible or necessary. It also does not affirm that there is an actual process called "seeing" happening; for example, the second line above is sometimes translated as "in the seen, there will be simply the seeing", though if we look closely we realize that there is nothing that is doing that seeing. Instead, the punchline is that, regardless of how we might categorize what is currently happening, we will never find an actual self, ego or “me” in any of it. This includes not only what seems to be a separate self which goes by our name and is apparently in control of our life, which is the first fetter, but also the underlying sense of “me” that seems to be the basis of life itself as the eighth fetter.
Fortunately, we already have the ability to see and know this. Some translations of the passage above cast it in terms of what Bahiya is to train himself in. However, we can already see, hear, conceive and recognize what is happening: all we need to do is look closely enough to see that there is no “me” in any of it. We only need to be willing to see that there is no “me”, and to simply look in the entirety of everyday experience to see it. Instead of learning a new skill, we just have to let go of beliefs and assumptions about who or what we are: that is how we are able to see there is no “me”, by which we will understand that what we see in everyday life isn't what it appears to be either.
For example, suppose we want to purchase a used bicycle from an advertisement we see. Initially, “the seen” is whatever we see in the advertisement, such as the picture of the bicycle and the words that describe it. Though it is simply visual information, we interpret and recognize the words and what is in the picture: this is effortless for us. We then go to the person’s home to see if it really is what we want, and much more happens: we see the bicycle itself, we hear their words, we take a test drive and feel how the bicycle operates, and so on. Though again all we actually receive is sensory information that is seen, heard, and felt, we effortlessly recognize what it all means on an everyday level, and decide whether or not the bicycle is the one we want. Whether we are awake or not, that is what we simply do in the course of daily life. The only difference is that, when we awaken, we know that what is seen, heard or otherwise experienced is just an interpretation that we recognize: in that, there is nothing absolutely “real” that is recognized, nor is there any sort of “me” that does that recognizing.
Focusing on the fact that there is no “me” also helps us to avoid any attempts to understand what exactly it is that we see, hear, conceive or recognize. This is especially important if we approach awakening with the erroneous assumption that we will find and know “the nature of reality”, or that we will come to fully understand “the way things really are”. In the end, all we can really say is that (for example) whatever is seen is in fact seen, and that while we can think about and interpret it in order to go about daily life, those are just ideas about what is seen. Fortunately, “simply the seen” is all we need (and all that we have ever actually had!) to navigate daily life. Rather than discovering “the way things really are”, we simply realize “the way I really am not”.
What Is Not Seen
A somewhat less well known teaching, which is a helpful companion to the above, is the Kalaka Sutta, which further clarifies what is not seen. Here the Buddha begins by recalling how it is that most people see, hear, conceive and recognize all that happens in their lives, just as he once did as well. However, not only is there no one who does all that, there also isn’t a “something” that is or isn’t seen or heard, nor will that ever actually happen:
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What is seen, heard, conceived, recognized, attained, investigated or pondered by anyone, I know and have fully understood it. That which they experience, I too once experienced. However, as one who has come back down to what is simply happening, I am no longer beholden to that.
I also know and understand that, for those who have come back down to what is simply happening, whatever there is to be seen, heard, conceived or recognized, they no longer conceive of: - a “something” that is seen, heard, conceived or recognized, - a “non-something” that is seen, heard, conceived or recognized, - something that will be seen, heard, conceived or recognized, or - someone or something that sees, hears, conceives or recognizes. One who has come back down to what is simply happening has this abiding perspective when in and among the seen, the heard, the conceived and the recognized. There is no perspective that is clearer or more valuable than this. One with such an abiding perspective does not consider anything to be ultimately real or unreal, even as what is seen, heard, conceived or recognized is clung to and thought to be real by those who have blinkered themselves. As one who has come back down to what is simply happening, and having now understood the poisonous arrow by which people are stuck, I am not attached to anything, because I see and know what is simply happening. |
I have translated the Pali term tathāgata as “one who has come back down (āgata) to what is simply happening (tathā)”. While this fairly common term is usually translated as “one who has thus gone” or similar, what actually happens is that, rather than going anywhere, we come back down to a very simple and fundamental way of living right here and now. Whatever is happening, that is simply happening. As the Buddha describes above, we never forget how it is that we once perceived everything in terms of an actual "someone" perceiving an actual "something"; however, eventually we are no longer fooled as to whether it exists or doesn’t exist. We cook food in a frying pan, and have a conversation with our neighbor, without any longer needing to know if or how any of that exists or doesn’t exist.
We therefore must let go of all beliefs and assumptions about what is simply happening, after which it can feel as though we alight back onto our basic experience. “What’s left” can be described as awakened understanding, where we not just know but completely accept that what is happening is not personal, substantial, predictable, controllable, owned or a reliable source of happiness. Rather than going somewhere else or accessing some higher state of being or consciousness, we end up “fully here” or, perhaps better, we realize that there has never been anywhere else to be. As one traditional text describes it:
We therefore must let go of all beliefs and assumptions about what is simply happening, after which it can feel as though we alight back onto our basic experience. “What’s left” can be described as awakened understanding, where we not just know but completely accept that what is happening is not personal, substantial, predictable, controllable, owned or a reliable source of happiness. Rather than going somewhere else or accessing some higher state of being or consciousness, we end up “fully here” or, perhaps better, we realize that there has never been anywhere else to be. As one traditional text describes it:
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Awakened understanding is where we understand that
appearances, sensations, recognitions, conditionings and consciousness are conventional aspects that are simply happening. There is nothing that doesn’t simply happen, and there is not anything else happening; whatever is happening is simply that which is happening. |